Willie ‘The Whip’ was defensive stalwart at Rostraver, Duquesne
Author Mark Hostetler has a new book out entitled “Heads of State – Pennsylvania’s Greatest High School Basketball Players of the Modern Era.” To compile a list of the 150 greatest players is a daunting task. Several players failed to make the top 150 and there were several that deserved to be mentioned in the “honorable mention” section and the “others under consideration” section. This is not meant as a criticism, as any undertaking of this sort is bound to have someone fall through the cracks and it does spark debate. One of the players the book failed to mention was Willie “The Whip” Ross, who was an outstanding player during his high school days at Rostraver High School.
Playing for head coach George Everett, Ross helped spur the Leopards to Section 10 titles as a sophomore and a junior. Ross was the leading scorer and Most Valuable Player in the WPIAL’s Section 10 both seasons. The Leopards went 19-5 overall and 11-1 in section play during the 1958-59 season and lost to Washington in the WPIAL playoffs, 68-58. In Ross’ junior campaign, the Leps posted a 17-9 record and once again went 11-1 in section play. After defeating Kittanning, 64-54, in the WPIAL playoffs, they were felled by unbeaten Uniontown in the quarterfinals, 79-64, despite a 21-point effort from Ross.
Rostraver moved into tough Section 5 in Ross’ senior season and fell to 11-11 on the season, but Ross was the scoring leader in a section that included Uniontown, Charleroi, Monessen, Donora, California, Monongahela and arch-rival Bellmar. Ross paced Section 5 in scoring with 386 and a 27.5 average in 14 league games. Ross finished ahead of his closest challenger, Bellmar’s Daryle Ruby (329, 23.5). Don Yates of section champion Uniontown was third with 279 points and a 19.8 average.
“No question about it, Willie was one of the best players ever in this area,” said Jim Weir, a longtime coach and athletic director at Rostraver. “He had natural ability and he worked hard to refine and improve those God-given talents.”
Ross butted heads with Daryle Ruby of Bellmar throughout their high school careers. Ross and Ruby clashed in one of the biggest games of the 1960-61 season. It occurred on Feb. 21, 1961 at the Bellmar High School gymnasium, where a standing-room-only crowd watched Ross win the scoring duel, 25-23, and Bellmar win the game, 69-65.
“I remember having some great battles with Willie Ross from Rostraver all through junior high and high school,” Ruby stated. “Ross was a great player and unfortunately died as a young man. He had a nice career at Duquesne.”
Ross, Ruby and Uniontown’s Don Yates, a 6-2 junior, were unanimous choices for the All-Section 5-A first team in 1960-61. They were joined by guards John Unice (5-9) of Uniontown and Tony Romasco (6-1) of Monessen, both seniors.
Ross had a three-year career total of 1,480 points for Rostraver in 72 games for a 20.6 average. He garnered Honorable Mention All-State honors as a senior.
Sifting through scholarship offers that included national power Cincinnati, Ross decided to play his college ball at Duquesne.
With the Dukes, Ross’ scoring prowess was overshadowed by All-American Willie Somerset and Ron Willard. Ross became a defensive stalwart and solid rebounder who still could score when needed.
“If you’re going to play for Duquesne, you’re going to have to play defense,” Ross told the Pittsburgh Press.
As a top defender, Ross squared off against some of the top players in the country during his career at Duquesne. He drew defensive assignments against the likes of Nick Werkman of Seton Hall, Dave Stallworth of Wichita State, Fred Crawford of St. Bonaventure, Frank Corace of LaSalle and Ray Wolford of Toledo.
Ross felt that defense was a skill to be mastered, not an outlet for simple aggression.
“That hacking and fouling and hatchet-man stuff,” he explained, “it detracts from the game. And if a guy’s a good ball player, it certainly won’t keep him from scoring.”
If a guy was a good ball player, Ross would overplay him slightly, “to keep him from getting the ball. But there you have to watch yourself,” Ross said.
“A clever player will cut away from you, and once a good player does get the ball, you have to be honest in playing him. You can worry him, get a hand up, throw off his timing, but you can’t play him tight or he’ll go around you and you can’t give the baseline. If you do, it’s a lay-up or a foul. You have to lead him to the middle of the floor and then if he gets by you there’s a chance of someone picking him up.”
Somerset remembers his teammate well.
“Willie was a real big part of my career,” Somerset recalled. “I spent a couple of years with him. Willie was always focused and very quiet, he wasn’t a rah, rah guy and he always carried out his assignments and he always lived up to his expectations. He was great ball player. He always took it upon himself to play good defense and he sacrificed himself on offense because I took up most of the offense and took most of the shots along with Willard, but Willie was a great rebounder and played head-to-head great defense and he was an awesome ball player.”
Ross was part of clubs that posted records of 13-9 in 1962-63, 16-7 with a trip to the NIT in 1963-64 (lost to Army, 67-65, in overtime at Madison Square Garden). In 1964-65, Ross’ senior season, the Dukes finished with a 14-10 record.
“He was a very athletic and hard working kid,” former Duquesne assistant John Cinicola said of Ross. “His work habit was outstanding. He was a good ball player for us. He had the ability to score, but he played the role that he was supposed to play. He gave us everything he could in practice and led in the “Stitches Club.” He did whatever was expected of him and that’s the way he played. Whatever he had to do, he did.”
Ross tallied 1,014 points in his career on the Bluff and snared 624 rebounds in 66 career games for an average of 9.5 a game. A couple of highlights were his 27 rebounds against Kent State on Feb. 2, 1965, which stands as tied for the third-highest single-game total in school history. Ross also had a rare 20-20 game with 20 points and 22 rebounds against St. Bonaventure on Feb. 24, 1965.
He graduated from Duquesne University with a degree in education and moved to the West Coast. He was employed as special manager of operating room services at Stanford University Medical Center.
Ross, 47, of Newark, California, died in his home on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 1989.
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” columns appear in the Tuesday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.